Vientiane/New Delhi, Oct 10 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held bilateral meetings separately with the newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon, on the sidelines of Asean-India Summit in Vientiane, Laos.
Prime Minister congratulated Prime Minister Ishiba on his new responsibility and wished him success in leading Japan to greater heights. He underscored that India will continue to accord the highest priority to its ties with Japan, a trusted friend and strategic partner, a press statement said.
The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership through enhanced cooperation in a wide range of areas including trade and investment, infrastructure development, defense and security, semiconductors, skilling, culture and people to people exchanges.
Both leaders emphasized that India and Japan are indispensable partners for a peaceful, safe, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region and renewed their commitment to working together to achieve this goal.
The two leaders looked forward to the next India-Japan annual summit, it added.
Prime Minister Modi also held a bilateral with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Vientiane. This was the first meeting between the two leaders.
The two Prime Ministers discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation across a range of areas including trade and investment, defence and security, renewable energy, education, dairy, agri-tech, sports, tourism, space, and people-to-people ties. They noted that frequent high-level contacts have imparted a strong momentum to bilateral relations. In this context, they recalled the recent visit of the President of India to New Zealand, which was a huge success.
Prime Minister Modi welcomed New Zealand’s decision to join the International Solar Alliance.
Both Prime Ministers renewed their commitment to further strengthen cooperation in multilateral fora and reiterated their commitment to take the India-New Zealand relationship to greater heights.
Prime Minister extended an invitation to Prime Minister Luxon to visit India on mutually convenient dates, which he accepted.
UNI RN